State parks officials have bought a Navy surplus,
800,000-watt gas-turbine generator for $10,000 and
installed it on a hilltop pad.

The rest is up to castle electrician Lawrence "Sparky"
Ross.

Pending delivery of some final switching equipment, Ross
is ready to keep the former estate of late publishing
magnate William Randolph Hearst humming if the
Millennium Bug knocks out power.

"We're pretty much at the rural end of the line here,"
Ross said of the estate, which overlooks the rugged
coastline 190 miles northwest of Los Angeles. "We'd be
last to go back on, like any rural area."

Handed over to the state in 1957, Hearst Castle draws
nearly 1 million visitors a year for guided tours.

Electricity powers the castle's lights, security and water
pressure systems, fire suppression equipment,
communications, temperature-and-humidity controls and
a host of other gadgets.

The generator is more than up to the task if needed, said
Ross, calculating it could produce enough power for
2,400 regular homes.